OC Business journal "best places to work"

For the fourth year in a row, I was humbled to again be part of Optima Tax Relief and its rank on the Orange County Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” list. What probably makes this accolade among the most meaningful to me is the fact that the award was based directly on the feedback given directly by Optima Tax Relief staff and not simply based on revenue growth or market leadership. To achieve such a huge validation by staff members who I feel honored to work with holds special meaning for me and I continue to learn every day from so many talented individuals all around me. A main reason why I feel Optima has developed such an inspiring company culture relates to what I’ve always referred to as “bottom-up-management.”  What this means is that senior leadership at our firm is constantly looking for feedback and suggestions from even the most entry-level members of its staff. We do this because we know that our team that communicates directly with clients can provide some of the most meaningful feedback. I can’t stress enough the importance of this philosophy in consumer finance as listening to customer needs is as important achieving their goals.

- Jesse Stockwell

5 Common Pitfalls People Fall Into With Student Loans

It seems pretty straightforward. You have to pay for school. How you do that, however, can make all the difference in the world. When it comes to student loans there are some pretty common pitfalls people fall into. Save yourself some time and money by avoiding these common mistakes.

1. Not Knowing What You Want

You know you want to go to school; you’re just not certain what type of degree to pursue. Stop and take a step back. Each year that you spend wading through the sea of educational uncertainty, is costing you money.

Approach your education the same way you would buying a house. Decide what you want, then select the student loan that best suits your needs. That way you’re not spinning your wheels – and spinning through money.

2. Do You Even Need A Loan?

It’s crazy how many people fall into this common pitfall. Have you explored the Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)?  Do you know the FAFSA deadlines?  Have you looked into scholarships and grants and all the other ways you can pay for your education? 

Don’t sell yourself short. You might think your family makes too much money for a federal grant, or that you don’t have good enough grades to qualify, or that there is simply no other option.

You might be wrong. The US department of education has a terrific blog for students exploring FAFSA.

3. Easy Money

No matter what you might think, student loans are not free money. They don’t just drop out of the sky when you need one, and trust me, you’ll pay for it … eventually.

Don’t fall into the common pitfall of spending your student loan on things you don’t need: like that new Xbox, or a new puppy, or a night out on the town. Use your student loan for its true purpose – your education.

4.  Don’t Be Uneducated About Your Loans

Make sure you do your research and explore all your options. Most importantly of all, know what your payments will be each month.

These days there are lots of handy online calculators to help you figure out exactly how much you’ll be paying for your student loan, leaving no excuse for saying you didn’t know.

5. Not Keeping Track Of How Much You’ve Borrowed

A little here, a little there: It all adds up. And let’s be honest, it’s easy to get into the mindset that you have all the time in the world to repay your student loans. Well, don’t be fooled into that line of thinking.

The Internet it littered with tales of people who’ve come out of college hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because of their student loans. Keep careful tabs on what you’re borrowing. You can use several simple tools like this database to help you keep track of your student aid.

Getting an education shouldn’t bury you in debt. While it may be very tempting to “treat” yourself after a particularly grueling week of exams, it doesn’t make sense when that means dipping into your student loan money. Avoid the common pitfalls mentioned above and emerge with both a college degree, and a degree in common sense.

For more information on Federal student aid, visit  https://studentaid.ed.gov/.

5 Tips To Help You Start the Year Off Right

With a new year comes a new start.  This is an opportunity to reflect on your life, both personally and professionally, and make any necessary changes.  Maybe you don’t need to make drastic changes, but taking the time to honestly assess your current situation in life can be beneficial.  Here are five ways to help you reset and start the year off right.

1. Reset Your Focus

Many people start the year off making New Year’s resolutions, but after a few weeks, most have already broken their promises to themselves.  Why is that? All too often it is due to a lack of focus. 

If you have resolved to lose weight, then you are going to have to maintain focus on that goal every day by consciously deciding to eat healthy foods and commit to exercising regularly.  Likewise, if you want to reach higher career goals, strengthen your marriage, or be a better parent, it is going to take a concerted effort on your part to not get bogged down in the day to day minutia, and maintain attention on your goal.

2. Surround Yourself With Positive People

You have probably heard before that the people you surround yourself with will impact your life.  Those people can either lift you up or bring you down.  Whether it is regarding your career or personal life, make a choice to not participate or get bogged down by the unconstructiveness of negative people.  Ensure that your circle of influence is comprised of positive, productive people that will drive you to do better.      

3. Change Your Outlook

There are some things that you can control in life and other things that you cannot.  It does no good to obsess over the things that you have unequivocally no control over. 

So what can you do if you have absolutely no way to change your situation?  Change your outlook.  Many experts claim that only 10% of your life is made up of the events that are actually happening to you and around you.  The other 90% of your life is how you perceive it and manage situations - and this is the part you can control. 

4. Maintain Balance Between Work And Family Life

Do you find yourself working long hours and feeling exhausted every day?  Did you miss you child’s last five school activities?  Being dedicated to your job, striving to move up the ladder, and having a strong work ethic are good things.  But they aren’t the only things, and certainly not the most important things in life. 

There is no price that you can put on spending time with your family and being there to watch your daughter make her first soccer goal or your son hit his first home run.    

5. Map Out Your Plan

Write down your goals for the year.  Talk about your goals with an accountability partner - this can be your spouse, a friend, or co-worker - who can be there throughout the year to make sure you are staying on track with those goals. 

Instead of just thinking about what you want to do or the goals that you want to reach, writing them down and telling someone else not only makes them more tangible, but also a scientifically proven fact that you are more likely to reach them.  While it can be a bit intimidating to actually commit to your goals in this way, you are actually more likely to reach them if you know someone else is going to be following up with you and cheering you on along the way. 

Why It's Good To Check Your Credit Score On A Regular Basis

Your credit score is a reflection of your responsible finance habits, or at times, the lack there of. Unfortunately, identity fraud has become an increasing concern for many Americans, but it doesn’t take a thief stealing your identity to put your credit score at a lower level than it deserves to be. There is also the possibility of human error or a simple computing mistake that could cause your credit to take a nose dive. For these reasons and more, it is important to check your credit score regularly.

Identity Fraud

Identity Fraud has become increasingly pervasive and, in many cases, unless you check your credit score, you’ll be unaware that someone has accessed your social security number or other personal information and is using your credit illegally.  As a matter of fact, if you don’t check your credit report it could be months before the credit grantor, finally fed up with nonpayment, turns the account over to a collector who tracks you down and demands payment for a loan you never applied for. 

Yet if you check your credit history on a routine basis, you have the best chance of detecting inaccuracies that would indicate whether or not your identity may have been compromised.

Financial Stability

Another reason to check your credit often is due to the fact that your credit report can have a dramatic impact on your financial stability. 

We all know that you can obtain many benefits from having a good credit score, like higher credit limits, access to exclusive memberships and deals, better rates, and more. But if your report is poor, many options can actually become unavailable to you. 

In this regard, it’s important for you to know what to expect when a lender runs a credit check on you.  Don’t get caught off guard by not being aware of what your current rating is.

Inaccurate Information

There is also the fact that many credit reports contain inaccuracies that can harm your credit rating, leading to rejections when you apply for loans, insurance or even a job.

Often the result of simple human error, they can be caused by a number of reasons including a simple clerical error, a computer glitch, or perhaps if your file is confused or mixed with that of someone with a similar name.   

Regular Monitoring

If you monitor your credit report regularly, you’ll be able to deal with inaccuracies that can harm your credit standing as they arise rather than letting them go unnoticed and be causing harm to your financial reputation without your knowledge.

Gerri Detweiler, Director of Consumer Education for Credit.com, adds “I found a serious mistake on my credit reports, and it’s possible you may find wrong information on yours. It’s best to learn about that well before you’re in the process of a loan application, and you have plenty of time to dispute it. (The first time it occurred, I was in the midst of financing a new car. Talk about panic!) In fact, disputing a credit report mistake can derail a mortgage loan application that’s already in process.”

All of this information should help you understand how important it is to stay on top of your credit score.  Your ability to borrow and your financial reputation is at stake.

5 Things to Do When Trying To Improve Your Credit

With so many books, seminars, websites and companies are dedicated to the subject, you would think that improving your credit score is a difficult and complex process only trained professionals are capable of attempting. This is simply not true.

Sure, credit repair companies can help, particularly if there are errors on your credit report or you have been the victim of identity theft; but the general principles are straightforward and most people can get through the process just fine by themselves.

By following the five simple steps outlined below, you will be well on your way toward improving your overall credit standing.

1) Review your credit report for errors or inaccurate items and check your credit score.

You can check your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com once a year. You’re entitled to do it more than once a year if you’re unemployed and looking for a job, if your report previously had incorrect items on it, or if you've been the victim of fraud. However, the free report will not include your credit score.

You can request your credit score at any time (for a small fee) from one of the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian or TransUnion.

Pro Tip: Check your credit report and score periodically. This will help you see whether your credit improvement plan is working and will provide damage control if you happen to become the victim of identity theft. Some credit card providers, such as Discover and Barclaycard, provide members with free access to their credit score.

2) Dispute any errors on your credit report.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act puts the responsibility of keeping accurate credit records on the credit reporting agencies and the companies or individuals that provide them with information. If there is information that is incorrect or inaccurate, write to both the agency and the person or organization that provided it, and request that the item is either removed or corrected. They will then have to either correct the error or provide evidence to its accuracy.

Pro Tip: Make sure you enclose a copy of the credit report with the relevant items highlighted and send your letter by certified mail, so you can later document what the agency received. It will then be their responsibility to either correct or substantiate the offending items. The Federal Trade Commission has a free sample letter for disputing errors on your credit report that will do the job.

3) Pay your bills on time.
Your payment history represents 35% of your FICO credit score. It is the single most important factor in the complex calculation. Once you've fixed any errors on your credit report, you need to focus on building a flawless credit history that portrays you as a safe bet to lenders. Delinquent payments, even if they’re only a few days late, can do a lot of damage to your credit score. The good news is that credit score algorithms give more weight to your recent credit history. Old credit problems and mistakes don’t affect your credit that much, and their impact will continue to fade as time passes.

Pro Tip: Set up payment reminders or even enroll in automatic payments with your bank, so you never miss a bill again. Remember that once a collection account is posted on your credit report, it will remain there for seven years, regardless of whether you pay it off or not.

4) Keep your credit card balances low.
How much you owe in relation to how much credit you have available makes up a total of 30 percent of your FICO credit score. I know this is often easier said than done, but avoid spending more than you can pay off every month. If possible, use your savings to reduce the amount you owe on your credit cards or other sources of revolving credit. Maxing out your credit cards or having a high outstanding debt can hurt your credit score.

Pro Tip: Pay off your credit cards several times a month, especially after a big purchase. Your credit score is based on the total balance on your last statement, regardless of whether you paid it in full. It’s a particularly good idea to do this before applying for a loan.

5) Don’t close unused credit cards or open a bunch of new accounts at once.
The length of your credit history and excessive new credit requests account for 25 percent of your FICO credit score. When you close old accounts or open a lot of new ones, you lower your average account age and your score will take a hit.

Pro Tip: Sometimes credit reporting agencies may drop old unused accounts. Keep them alive by using them from time to time. For instance, you could charge your gym, telephone and internet bill to your three oldest accounts.

That’s it. Credit score algorithms may be complex, but improving your credit score is really quite simple.

That doesn’t mean improving your credit score is easy. It’s not. Think about improving your credit score as you would about losing weight. The principles are simple. Just eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, burn more calories than you consume and exercise regularly. Easy, right? Hardly.

Putting those simple principles in practice is where the challenge lies, because in both cases it often requires changing strongly entrenched habits, enlisting a ton of self-control, and having patience with the process.

Checklist for People with Student Loans

If you are looking to attend college in the fall, now is the time to start getting things in place financially.  While it may seem early, if you need to apply for student aid, you (and your parents) getting taxes completed and filed is of the utmost importance because you will need completed returns in order to complete the FAFSA—Free Application for Federal Student Aid.  

Applying for financial aid can be a bit confusing and even overwhelming, but understanding the entire process and the terminology can make preparing for higher education much less daunting.

1. Fill Out The FAFSA. 

Even if you don’t know exactly how much you will be able to pay up-front through savings or scholarship, you can always apply and then accept only what you need.  Some financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you don’t apply and end up needing the aid, you may have to look at other loan options.  You can even fill out the FAFSA application online. 

2. Determine How Much Financial Aid You Need.

·       Look at current savings

·       Income from part-time job

·       Monies you have been awarded in scholarship

3. Understand What Type Of Aid You Are Getting.

You will receive an award letter after you have filled out the FAFSA, letting you know the type of aid for which you have been awarded:

·       Grants—grants are like scholarships; they are free money and do not need to be paid back.

·       Student Loans—these are loans like any other type of loan that you would sign for; they need to be paid back, with interest.

·       Work-Study—this is a job that can help you pay for educational expenses; many times, they are offered on campus.

4. Compare Award Letters.

If you have applied to several schools, you will get an award letter from each one.  The award letter will break down the type of aid that you are specifically being awarded from that institution: federal grants, state aid, loans, institutional aid, or work-study a college is offering you.  At this point, you can compare them and decide which school works best for you.

5. Start Paying Back Loans As Early As Possible.

You may have to take out loans if you don’t receive enough scholarship or grant money, and while you are in college, the loans that you are utilizing may even have a deferred payment—meaning that you don’t have to make payments on the loan until after graduation.  Unfortunately, a deferred payment does not mean that the interest is necessarily deferred as well though. 

Often deferred payment loans will have imputed interest; this means that during the deferred payment period, your loan is still accruing interest, which will be added to the balance and will need to be paid back.  If imputed interest is added to your loan during the deferment period, it is very likely that the balance will be larger than the original amount that the loan was taken out for.  With this in mind, it is a good strategy to make any payments as early as you can to pay the loans off sooner and avoid additional interest.